422 reviews
Soldier on!
Kurt Russell is strong and (mostly) silent in this futuristic action-thriller from Paul Anderson (Event Horizon, Resident Evil.) Set on a garbage-dump planet, Soldier plays like a cross between Rambo and Shane, with Russell barely speaking as the title character, an "obsolete" genetic soldier left for dead. The supporting cast of colonists, including Connie Nielsen, Sean Pertwee and a surprisingly hirsute Michael Chiklis, is able. They spend most of the movie being scared of Russell, and the rest of it running for their lives. Russell's performance here is one of the best he's ever given. With almost no words to say, he conveys emotion, feeling and meaning with looks and glances. It is almost a mime performance. When the action sequences kick into gear, he kicks ass--and does so in a strong, silent, matter-of fact way. There are flaws. Jason Scott Lee is brutish as a "superior" genetic soldier. Jason Isaacs does a great impression of Frank Burns from M*A*S*H as a weaselly commanding officer, and Gary Busey busts a gut (and nearly busts his girdle) as Todd's mentor. This is an underrated, and excellent sci-fi flick, and recommended for anyone who wants a second visit to the universe of Blade Runner--David Webb Peoples wrote both screenplays.
Somber Tale Of A Possible Future
In a future society, the military component does not have to recruit; rather, their candidates are chosen at birth, culled from nurseries and designated to spend their entire lives in the service of the government. They are given over to the war machine, body and soul, for no reason other than to protect and serve; they have no personal identity other than a name and rank, and no autonomy whatsoever. This is the fate of those whose destiny is predetermined for them in `Soldier,' directed by Paul Anderson and starring Kurt Russell. The scenario is hard and bleak as the movie begins by depicting the training of the soldiers during advancing periods of time, from preadolescence to adulthood. Russell is Sergeant Todd, the best of the best, and we glimpse his career as he discharges his duties in an exemplary manner in campaign after campaign; he is what he was born to be, a soldier. But even the best cannot go on forever, and the day arrives when Todd and his peers are no longer the elite. A new generation of soldiers has been created, products of advanced genetics and technology, and Todd's generation is suddenly obsolete. What follows is the story of a man who must fight for his life, while struggling to discover his own sense of humanity and individuality, traits new to a soldier who has known only two things his entire life: Fear and discipline. Russell gives a commanding performance as Todd, the soldier who above all else must obey orders without question while suppressing all emotion and individual thoughts. He has few lines in this movie, but Russell speaks volumes with his eyes. This role demonstrates that he is, in fact, one of the under-appreciated actors of our times; that he can disappear so entirely into the character of Todd is a credit to his ability, and with this part he has created someone quite different from any he's done before. And he's given Todd a depth and credibility that someone of lesser talent could easily have rendered as nothing more than a pretentious and superficial stereotype. Notable performances are also turned in here by Connie Nielsen (Sandra) and Jason Isaacs (Colonel Mekum). Rounding out the supporting cast are Jason Scott Lee, memorable as Caine 607, one of the new generation of soldiers; Sean Pertwee (Mace); Gary Busey (Captain Church); Michael Chiklis (Jimmy Pig); and Mark Bringleson (Rubrick). Anderson has delivered an action film with a message, a cautionary tale that transcends the genre of science-fiction. `Soldier' reminds us of the importance of keeping the humanity of our lives intact. It's an entertaining way of making us consider the alternatives, like a bleak future and a world in which good movies just wouldn't make a whole lot of difference. Much like `1984,' and `Mad Max,' this movie, which is ultimately uplifting, is going to make you take pause and think about the kind of Universe in which we all must live together and share. I rate this one 7/10.
A good movie in two parts
The first two sequences of this movie set up the two conflicts: the -thematic- conflict between the soldier Todd and his suppressed humanity, and the -physical- conflict between Todd and his bio-engineered replacement. Both sequences are quite gripping in different ways.
Peoples' screenplay falters somewhat by resolving the first of these arcs half-way through the movie, which means the second half is little more than a straightforward action romp.
Nonetheless, kudos to the makers for creating an genre action piece with heart and even a bit of soul and especially to Kurt Russell who conveys much with very little.
Not a great film, but one worth seeing.
Peoples' screenplay falters somewhat by resolving the first of these arcs half-way through the movie, which means the second half is little more than a straightforward action romp.
Nonetheless, kudos to the makers for creating an genre action piece with heart and even a bit of soul and especially to Kurt Russell who conveys much with very little.
Not a great film, but one worth seeing.
A strange mix...
- BroadswordCallinDannyBoy
- Sep 19, 2004
- Permalink
Great work, Russell!
Underated Gem
It's odd. Surfing the net, I find almost nothing but bad reviews for this film, despite being one of the best Sci-Fi films to be released by Warner Bros. in the last couple of years. It features an award-caliber performance from Kurt Russell (himself an underrated actor,)a smart script and stylish direction. Yet people insist it's a pile of cow pat. This character-driven movie is certainly better than, say, "The Matrix," which suffered from plot and logic holes, and had one of the worst endings ever. Although, admittedly, "Matrix" was meant to be a "Dumb" film, while "Soldier" is smarter than you think. The script never flinches, never compromises it's purpose or characters, and director Anderson (of "Event Horizon," the best horror-in-space movie since "Alien") shows sci-fi works better as a setting than a genre. And as for Russell, he shows more emotion and character in his performance than most Oscar winners, being extremely sympathetic even when doing unsympathetic things.
So I say ignore the gup about this being a bad movie. If you are a real sci-fi film lover, throw out "The Matrix" and get "Soldier" instead.
So I say ignore the gup about this being a bad movie. If you are a real sci-fi film lover, throw out "The Matrix" and get "Soldier" instead.
Kurt Russell is one of the Greatest Action Stars of All Time. Soldier is actually a damn good character driven Action Film.
The underrated & pretty much forgotten late 90's sci-fi action movie "Soldier" is Awesome!!!
Movie legend Kurt Russell's performance here is actually excellent & why? Because Kurt basically plays a soldier suffering from PTSD & is trying to fit into the world, but he's only known violence & death. Kurt's character "Todd" was the best of the best within his regiment of space warriors but in a different environment, surrounded by harmless civilians he's lost & lonely. Todd is basically soul searching whilst living amongst a peaceful colony. Todd is trying to find his place in the galaxy & Kurt is excellent. A real depth to character in a great slice of sci-fi action Cinema. Truly an underrated GEM!!!
Yep, Kurt Russell (one of my favourite actors ever) really shines as the extremely tough future Soldier of the title. His name is Todd, a soldier from a dark & bleak future that has been trained since a baby to be an ultimate killing machine that obeys orders & never speaks up but when he's no longer needed for galactic wars, he's found obsolete & dumped like trash on a trash planet. It's on this wasteland planet that Todd finds his soul & tries to become a good man as he battles his killer instinct as he tries to fit in with a colony of survivors. Kurt Russell is excellent in this emotionless role & because he's so emotionless, when his softer side comes through it's all the more powerful. Kurt Russell was a big star during the 90's as much as he was during the 80's. Kurt gave us 90's greats like Unlawful Entry, Breakdown, Escape from LA & Executive Decision, just to name a few!!! And Soldier is one of his most enjoyable & most underrated of his 90's output. We also have a good supporting cast surrounding Kurt, with the great British actor Sean Pertwee as Mace (Doomsday, Dog Soldiers, Event Horizon) & Gary Busey (Lethal Weapon, Under Siege, Predator 2) & a scarily Lethal Jason Scott Lee as the improved super Soldier.
Soldier is directed by sci-fi action director Paul W. S Anderson (Mortal Kombat, Event Horizon, Resident Evil) & created an action packed sci-fi movie with alot of heart. Paul is a damn good Director, especially in the sci-fi action genre. Paul's 2002 Resident Evil is still my favourite of the franchise.
The action scenes are excellent & the fist fights are brutal & the explosions are big!!! This is mid to fairly big budget action popcorn fun with a terrific Kurt Russell as it's beating heart. Also this is the most beefed up Kurt Russell has ever been, he looks the absolute part of a kick-ass futuristic warrior. Here Todd fights back against his creators & wants to end the galactic army run by the always wild Gary Busey.
Jason Scott Lee is a terrifying brute of a warrior that wants to wipe out Todd once & for all.
Soldier i owned on video (like hundreds of others titles) & it's one i watched many times & makes for a good double bill with Universal Soldier or even Kurt's Escape from LA.
Also the dark scruffy look of the bleak future is done well & the music score is exciting.
I miss 90's action films & i miss the 90's action stars in their prime.
Great times for movies especially the action thriller genres.
Soldier is underrated action-packed entertainment.
Movie legend Kurt Russell's performance here is actually excellent & why? Because Kurt basically plays a soldier suffering from PTSD & is trying to fit into the world, but he's only known violence & death. Kurt's character "Todd" was the best of the best within his regiment of space warriors but in a different environment, surrounded by harmless civilians he's lost & lonely. Todd is basically soul searching whilst living amongst a peaceful colony. Todd is trying to find his place in the galaxy & Kurt is excellent. A real depth to character in a great slice of sci-fi action Cinema. Truly an underrated GEM!!!
Yep, Kurt Russell (one of my favourite actors ever) really shines as the extremely tough future Soldier of the title. His name is Todd, a soldier from a dark & bleak future that has been trained since a baby to be an ultimate killing machine that obeys orders & never speaks up but when he's no longer needed for galactic wars, he's found obsolete & dumped like trash on a trash planet. It's on this wasteland planet that Todd finds his soul & tries to become a good man as he battles his killer instinct as he tries to fit in with a colony of survivors. Kurt Russell is excellent in this emotionless role & because he's so emotionless, when his softer side comes through it's all the more powerful. Kurt Russell was a big star during the 90's as much as he was during the 80's. Kurt gave us 90's greats like Unlawful Entry, Breakdown, Escape from LA & Executive Decision, just to name a few!!! And Soldier is one of his most enjoyable & most underrated of his 90's output. We also have a good supporting cast surrounding Kurt, with the great British actor Sean Pertwee as Mace (Doomsday, Dog Soldiers, Event Horizon) & Gary Busey (Lethal Weapon, Under Siege, Predator 2) & a scarily Lethal Jason Scott Lee as the improved super Soldier.
Soldier is directed by sci-fi action director Paul W. S Anderson (Mortal Kombat, Event Horizon, Resident Evil) & created an action packed sci-fi movie with alot of heart. Paul is a damn good Director, especially in the sci-fi action genre. Paul's 2002 Resident Evil is still my favourite of the franchise.
The action scenes are excellent & the fist fights are brutal & the explosions are big!!! This is mid to fairly big budget action popcorn fun with a terrific Kurt Russell as it's beating heart. Also this is the most beefed up Kurt Russell has ever been, he looks the absolute part of a kick-ass futuristic warrior. Here Todd fights back against his creators & wants to end the galactic army run by the always wild Gary Busey.
Jason Scott Lee is a terrifying brute of a warrior that wants to wipe out Todd once & for all.
Soldier i owned on video (like hundreds of others titles) & it's one i watched many times & makes for a good double bill with Universal Soldier or even Kurt's Escape from LA.
Also the dark scruffy look of the bleak future is done well & the music score is exciting.
I miss 90's action films & i miss the 90's action stars in their prime.
Great times for movies especially the action thriller genres.
Soldier is underrated action-packed entertainment.
- lukem-52760
- Jun 2, 2022
- Permalink
Very grim & tough sci-fi film.
All I heard about this movie is that it was nothing but pure trash. Every review killed the movie. Well, I tend to disagree. The movie moved along at a good pace & as stupid as the plot sounds it actually works. Don't believe everything you hear, see it for yourself. Kurt not only played the part he was given but looked it too. At age 47 he looks absolutely incredible! I'm not saying that I loved the movie, but it's definitely worth seeing if you're a fan of action/sci-fi flicks.
- JerseyCity
- Oct 24, 1998
- Permalink
SIR!!!!!
C'mon! 6.0...really??? Unique in every way. Yet another powerful performance by Kurt Russell. Entertaining from start to finish. Very underrated in my opinion. Jason Scott Lee's character Cain scared me as a kid! Effects were great for there time. Brilliant story. Hope it doesn't get a remake/reboot. My daddy had a saying, "If it ain't broke don't fix it!" 9/10
Better than the crap we see today!
Much. Ether than the Van Damme and stupid action movies of today! And better than all of Schwarzenegger's stupid films... I liked it. I loved Mary Poppins , The wizard of Oz and Sense and Sensibility too. I love all kinds of movies. My only requirements for a decent rating is: was it Fun? Was it interesting and was it better than avg for its genre. This met all 3 requirements. I get sick of all the fools on here trying to act like a Lorcano Critics Academy member. Bunch of geeks! And even the elite critics get at least half their reviews wrong. If you enjoyed yourself and forgot about your troubles for a couple hours.. any movies worth a 6 you geeks!
- Blumanowar
- Oct 22, 2020
- Permalink
love the idea but...
- SnoopyStyle
- Feb 8, 2015
- Permalink
Well, I liked it
OK, so Soldier isn't deep and meaningful like Blade Runner or as big budget as Terminator 2 but on the whole I found it quite enjoyable.
The fact that Kurt Russell stayed in character not speaking and being virtually emotionless made the moments when his humanity broke through all the more poignant. I found his portrayal of restricted emotional development more touching than Arnie's in the T films (and before I get comments yes I know that Arnie was a cyborg and Kurt was human but the premise put forward by both films was the same).
So to the film itself, a reasonable US/Brit cast are able to flesh out this little story. Not really sure if Gary Busey and his two deputies were baddies or goodies, so was unable to decide whether I liked them or not. The colony was a little more realistic neither a misguided bunch of peace loving/gullible/cowardly hicks who get wiped out from the get go nor a group of subversive aggressive terrorists paranoid about offworlders and each other.
Kurt Russell is good and unlike other comments I do not feel this will have a negative impact on his career (unlike maybe Escape from LA - sequels are such fickle creatures!). Sean Pertwee has really done his late father proud by continuing the families noble Sci-Fi lineage. And the rest of the cast helped flesh out this pathetic band of people making the most of a bad situation and not doing too badly.
If you see this on your TV schedule I would recommend giving it a chance. I don't think you will be disappointed.
The fact that Kurt Russell stayed in character not speaking and being virtually emotionless made the moments when his humanity broke through all the more poignant. I found his portrayal of restricted emotional development more touching than Arnie's in the T films (and before I get comments yes I know that Arnie was a cyborg and Kurt was human but the premise put forward by both films was the same).
So to the film itself, a reasonable US/Brit cast are able to flesh out this little story. Not really sure if Gary Busey and his two deputies were baddies or goodies, so was unable to decide whether I liked them or not. The colony was a little more realistic neither a misguided bunch of peace loving/gullible/cowardly hicks who get wiped out from the get go nor a group of subversive aggressive terrorists paranoid about offworlders and each other.
Kurt Russell is good and unlike other comments I do not feel this will have a negative impact on his career (unlike maybe Escape from LA - sequels are such fickle creatures!). Sean Pertwee has really done his late father proud by continuing the families noble Sci-Fi lineage. And the rest of the cast helped flesh out this pathetic band of people making the most of a bad situation and not doing too badly.
If you see this on your TV schedule I would recommend giving it a chance. I don't think you will be disappointed.
- MissTRious
- Jul 25, 2004
- Permalink
Russell impresses
Anderson is the director of "Soldier."...
Anderson is the director of "Soldier." His previous films include "Event Horizon" and "Mortal Kombat." Based on those, and now especially on the incompetent, amateurish mess that is "Soldier," it's pretty clear that he doesn't have the first idea how to tell a story, or even how to make a good movie.
He wastes an interesting premise, from screenwriter David Webb Peoples (the writer of "Blade Runner" and "Unforgiven," the latter an Oscar-winner). He wastes a surprisingly effective performance by Kurt Russell, who does a remarkable job showing the human feeling awakening beneath the stoic, near-robotic surface of the trained-from-birth title character. (What he's doing in this turkey, we'll never know.) He wastes the talents of a highly experiences artistic and technical crew, all of whom of have done much better work in previous films.
He wastes them by making an inept and frequently even laughable grade-Z action snoozer. The plotting is clumsy, the subtext obvious -- and I don't know when I've seen a movie so clearly expensive that looks so cheap. Visually, it's like an ultra-low-budget made-for-cable flick, something on the level of a late-80's Jean Claude Van Damme vehicle you might see on Showtime at 3am. This cheap look is difficult to reconcile with the fact that they obviously spent gobs of money on the thing, but somehow Anderson pulls it off.
A big, stupid, post-Apocalyptic action movie is one of the easiest genres to pull off. "Waterworld" was bad, but at least it was marginally watchable. "Soldier" is absolutely awful, and Paul Anderson demonstrates he can't even do a brainless testosterone movie. Catch it when it shows up on MST3K in a couple of years, but for now, avoid, avoid, avoid.
He wastes an interesting premise, from screenwriter David Webb Peoples (the writer of "Blade Runner" and "Unforgiven," the latter an Oscar-winner). He wastes a surprisingly effective performance by Kurt Russell, who does a remarkable job showing the human feeling awakening beneath the stoic, near-robotic surface of the trained-from-birth title character. (What he's doing in this turkey, we'll never know.) He wastes the talents of a highly experiences artistic and technical crew, all of whom of have done much better work in previous films.
He wastes them by making an inept and frequently even laughable grade-Z action snoozer. The plotting is clumsy, the subtext obvious -- and I don't know when I've seen a movie so clearly expensive that looks so cheap. Visually, it's like an ultra-low-budget made-for-cable flick, something on the level of a late-80's Jean Claude Van Damme vehicle you might see on Showtime at 3am. This cheap look is difficult to reconcile with the fact that they obviously spent gobs of money on the thing, but somehow Anderson pulls it off.
A big, stupid, post-Apocalyptic action movie is one of the easiest genres to pull off. "Waterworld" was bad, but at least it was marginally watchable. "Soldier" is absolutely awful, and Paul Anderson demonstrates he can't even do a brainless testosterone movie. Catch it when it shows up on MST3K in a couple of years, but for now, avoid, avoid, avoid.
Western in space
Kill em' all and let Kurt sort em' out
- dworldeater
- Sep 21, 2015
- Permalink
Terrific fun
I bought the Laser Disk of this movie and watched it for the first time last night. I thought it was pretty cool, and the audio commentary by the director, producer and co-star was first rate. Highly recommended purchase on LD, or DVD. And if you have a Pro-logic or Ac3 amp it sounds brilliant.
A nice little gem from 1998
A childhood movie of mine which I cherish a lot and had a lot of good memories with. This is also the first time I personally got introduced to Kurt Russell. My bias aside, this was a great movie with a lot of fun and action and story poured into it. A little dark at the start with some child violence and stuff but it's all cool. It's a very fun movie to watch. It's very hard for me to look at "Soldier" with an outside perspective because my bias won't allow me, I honestly loved this movie from start to finish. What I will however admit though, is that it's by no means perfect or anything, hence the 7/10 rating.
- darapjohnson
- Apr 25, 2023
- Permalink
TALK!!!
WHY DON'T YOU EVER TALK!?!?! If there was one thing that made this movie so bad, was that he DIDN'T TALK!!!! Especially at times when talking was required!! This movie might have had at least SOME redeemable qualities if I wasn't so stuck on him NOT TALKING!!!
-Example of a necessary place to talk: Todd's with the kid in the bed room and a snake is on the floor near the kid. Todd picks up a boot and hits the ground a bunch of times. What?! Then he grabs the snake out of mid air just in time. TALKING WOULD BE NICE, PLEASE!!!
But you know, other than that, the movie was not all that bad. I mean the plot was totally predicable, especially the fight between Todd and the bald guy (whoever didn't see that coming needs to seriously consider taking courses in looking for the blatantly obvious). But other than that, the gun outs were pretty cool. The only thing that kinda confused me was when the natives shot at one of the soldier guys, the bullets bounced right off, yet when Todd shot at him, the bullets ripped them to shreds. It was the same gun too. Does his advanced skill in combat tell him how to pull the trigger stronger to make bullets fly faster? I don't know...
2:10 stars just because of talking (or lack there of). If you can make a movie that has the main character not talk much, and make it good, I respect you. I DON'T respect the director of this movie.
-Example of a necessary place to talk: Todd's with the kid in the bed room and a snake is on the floor near the kid. Todd picks up a boot and hits the ground a bunch of times. What?! Then he grabs the snake out of mid air just in time. TALKING WOULD BE NICE, PLEASE!!!
But you know, other than that, the movie was not all that bad. I mean the plot was totally predicable, especially the fight between Todd and the bald guy (whoever didn't see that coming needs to seriously consider taking courses in looking for the blatantly obvious). But other than that, the gun outs were pretty cool. The only thing that kinda confused me was when the natives shot at one of the soldier guys, the bullets bounced right off, yet when Todd shot at him, the bullets ripped them to shreds. It was the same gun too. Does his advanced skill in combat tell him how to pull the trigger stronger to make bullets fly faster? I don't know...
2:10 stars just because of talking (or lack there of). If you can make a movie that has the main character not talk much, and make it good, I respect you. I DON'T respect the director of this movie.
Pure old school sci fi
- mikatrainer
- Jul 24, 2019
- Permalink
If you can't enjoy this on some level I feel sorry for you
I'm not going to try to make this out to be something it isn't. This is not a great movie. The special effects are mostly crap, and some are hilariously bad. Kurt Russell says 104 words in the whole movie, or almost $200,000 per word for his 20 million dollar payday for this train wreck. And it doesn't matter. I've probably seen it over a dozen times, and I love it. It's entertaining, and has enough action and violence to make it worth your time. Shut your brain off and ignore the naysayers, this is worthy. Kurt is completely jacked and definitely looks the part. And even though he says next to nothing during the whole thing, his brief halftime speech before he goes and kills everyone gives me a chill, every time. Like I said, it's not a great movie though. It is, however, a really good time.
- tylerdurden-66746
- Feb 26, 2022
- Permalink
Meandering "story", but loyal to clichés!
What Anderson managed to achieve on this film was probably pay his bills. Now, before we go on blaming any directors for the final cut, bear in mind that studios have the final word in all aspects to their "investment". However, I don't believe Russell was desperate enough to sign on an other "by the numbers" production. Be that as it may, Soldier has nothing going for it. A "sidequel" to Blade Runner ? I do not see ANY consistencies between the two besides the scribe; David Webb Peoples. He also scribed Unforgiven. Ironically,that's the impression I have for Anderson on this film. We get a automaton, unemotional Soldier who is obsolete and is out-casted then finds himself in situations unimaginable. Well, you could do a lot with that and make it work. But Anderson feels that it makes for a kick-ass reason to jack up a body-count. The survivors seem to exist as a catalyst for unfortunate events and thereby give a man who knows nothing about being a person. But everything about being the alpha soldier. Anyway, I do see a lot of effort from an action perspective, but not as much as on a narrative one. I don't understand why Anderson feels action will make the movie over plot ? Is it a stretch ? For Anderson ? Yes! While I do like the final fight, that is not enough to substantiate a good movie. As I said, the survivors act as a catalyst to ramp up the "I must avenge..." cliché/turning point body-count. What works on paper and in Anderson's head, may not work on a film. Apparently, Anderson is trying to pigeonhole himself with mindless actioneers with that other no talent, hack; Michael Bay. What's worse, is that Anderson usually writes his own material and that they keep selling. Thus, his motivation for stronger stories is lacking. Russell knew quick $ when he sees it. All he did was deliver a mute and stoic soldier. But there was no humanity to him. So introverted and invulnerable except for his "arc" where he weeps alligator tears for banishment. I have a feeling, that Russell had a guilty feeling regarding his participation and had foresight to see that this wasn't going to work.
Russell kicks ass. Terrific fun.
Before poor Paul W.S. Anderson made a fatal misstep with Alien Vs. Predator and was maligned, he made a few really excellent genre flicks back in the mid to late 90's, one of them being the mostly forgotten and excessively fun Soldier, starring a mostly mute and wholly badass Kurt Russell as a genetically bred super soldier who has fallen on hard times. His name is Todd 3465, and he's from the last line of soldiers who are in fact real humans, albeit altered. There's a new program moving in, wherein actual replicants are produced, rendering Todd obsolete. The head of the new outfit is sadistic Colonel Mekum (Jason Isaacs in full evil prick mode), who wants to do away with anything that isn't state of the art. Todd is thrashed in a one on one smackdown with Mekum's lead soldier (Jason Scott Lee), and then left to die on a remote planet used only for trash disposal and inhabited by wayward crash survivors who scavenge what they can. Todd is immediately the outsider, an unfeeling asset bred only for combat and alien to human qualities. A few among the group, including their leader Mace (Anderson regular Sean Pertwee) and Jimmy Pig (Michael Chicklis) attempt to connect, but it's gorgeous Connie Nielsen who finally breaks the ice. He may be conditioned to kill, but he's still a human man after all, and there's some base instincts you just can't ignore. Trouble brews when Mekum shows up again, that bastard. Now he wants to vaporize their planet on the grounds that the refugees are essentially squatting. Undermining him is Todd's former boss Church (an unusually restrained Gary Busey), an honorable military veteran who'd love to put Mekum six feet under and restore order. Todd must help his newfound friends, fight tooth and nail against replicants and win his superiority back. Russell is a tank in the role, letting both silence and action speak volumes, a one man old school ass kicking hero of the highest order. The world building and outer space effects are incredibly fun, the villains are broadly characterized with the force of a western, and the whole film knows what people want for a good time at the cinema. Oohh and fun fact: this takes place in the same cinematic universe as Blade Runner, and you can listen for the brief tie in reference that only die hards will pick up on. Great stuff.
- NateWatchesCoolMovies
- Jul 21, 2016
- Permalink
Dark, suspenseful, but fun
If this movie were a person I would kill him.
I'm not a Paul W.S. Anderson basher - that is, I think he's a generally poor director but I don't devote my life to criticizing him endlessly on Internet message boards - and I think he's at least handled the visual aspects of most of his movies quite well (hate it or not, "AvP" - which I didn't care for - was atmospherically in-touch with the other movies, and "Event Horizon" felt like an "Alien" sequel itself).
But really. This movie is absolutely terrible. It's easily Paul's worst movie, which is saying quite a lot. I'm even a decent fan of Kurt Russell so for me to say his performance sucks beyond belief here would be like a Jim Carrey fan admitting Carrey is too over the top in his earlier comedies - it's not going to happen.
The movie basically rips off every futuristic/apocalyptic action movie you can think of, including "Alien," "Blade Runner," "The Terminator" and of course Kurt's "Escape from New York." The problem is there's no substance here.
The direction is slipshod and lazy - the action scenes are boring and none of the characters stand out at all. The hero is a dull, emotionless waste of space who has one facial expression preserved throughout the movie: The Kurt Russell "Cold Stare." (tm) You'll know what I mean if you've seen a Kurt Russell movie before.
Anyway, if you're a Paul basher then you'll hate this. If you're not a Paul basher you'll still hate it. I don't have a problem with simplistic action movies - but at least make them ENTERTAINING! I was dead bored watching this.
But really. This movie is absolutely terrible. It's easily Paul's worst movie, which is saying quite a lot. I'm even a decent fan of Kurt Russell so for me to say his performance sucks beyond belief here would be like a Jim Carrey fan admitting Carrey is too over the top in his earlier comedies - it's not going to happen.
The movie basically rips off every futuristic/apocalyptic action movie you can think of, including "Alien," "Blade Runner," "The Terminator" and of course Kurt's "Escape from New York." The problem is there's no substance here.
The direction is slipshod and lazy - the action scenes are boring and none of the characters stand out at all. The hero is a dull, emotionless waste of space who has one facial expression preserved throughout the movie: The Kurt Russell "Cold Stare." (tm) You'll know what I mean if you've seen a Kurt Russell movie before.
Anyway, if you're a Paul basher then you'll hate this. If you're not a Paul basher you'll still hate it. I don't have a problem with simplistic action movies - but at least make them ENTERTAINING! I was dead bored watching this.
- MovieAddict2016
- Jul 23, 2006
- Permalink